Vol. IV. No. 84. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



19.5 



2. The following .sliding scale to bo the basis upon 

 ■which farmers' canes arc to be bought : — 



Price in New York, Price to be paid 



duU/ jjiiiil. , for Canes. 



3^ cents $2-0G per ton. 



■* ,, ... ... ... .., _v ,, ,, 



4tV 



4iV 



4S 



4iV 



U 



4' 



m- 



4f 



4A 



4{i 



.5 



2-27 

 2-.34 

 2-41 

 2-48 

 1-.5.5 

 2-62 

 2-69 

 2-76 

 2-83 

 2-90 

 2-97 

 3-04 

 3-11 

 3-18 

 3-25 

 3-32 



^Maximum j)rice to be paid, $3'32 ; minimum, §2"06. 



3. The agreement does not apply to those who sujiply 

 more than 1,.")00 tons of cane in any one season ; with such 

 persons jiroiirietors may make their own arrangement. 



4. The average price each fortnight to be decided upon 

 by the following Committee who will be asked to act as 

 such, viz., his Excellency the Governor, the Hon. the 

 Colonial Secretarj', tlie Hon. the Attorney General, and the 

 Hon. A. P. Marryat. The daily quotations in the public 

 telegrams to be the basis, the previous fortnight's average 

 price of crystals in America being the guitle. 



5. A promissory note of the value of £1,000 sterling to 

 be signed by the parties to the agreement, and handed to his 

 Excellency the Governor, before crop starts, it being con- 

 sidered security for any penalty imposed by the Committee 

 for any breach of the agreement which has been pro\'ed. 

 Fines levied to be awarded by the Committee to the parties 

 injuriously attected. 



6. Whether delivered at the factory or loading station, 

 the price of canes to be the same rate. 



7. Any party wishing to withdraw from the agreement 

 to give six months' notice in writing to the Committee, prior 

 to December 3 1 in such year. 



Porto Rico. 



It will be seen from the followino; extracts from 

 the Consular Report on Porto Rico fur 1904, that the 

 position of the sugar industry is entirely satisfactory : — 



The .sugar crop of 1903-4 yielded 110,000 tons, the 

 heaviest ever recorded in Porto Rico. It is the result of the 

 great development of the sugar centrals in the last few years 

 now arriving at their proper condition of efficiency. The 

 value of the crop was £786,24.5 more than that of the 

 previous year. Two new centrals came into work during the 

 year, one at Juncos and the other at Naguabo, while a third 

 is planned for next year at Fajardo. Nearly all the old 

 factories of any importance have improved their plants and 

 •systems, and great activity is shown all round in opening up 

 new cane areas to supply the grooving capacities of the mills. 



According to the annnal report of .the Central Aguirre 

 the result was satisfactory, and although the average price 

 at which the crop was .sold was only 13s. 9 J. per 100 lb., 

 a net earning of £51,800 was obtained, giving a dividend of 



£26,700, or about G-67 per cent, on a capital of £400,000. 

 The cro}) of this factory was taken off in 131 working day.s, 

 at an average run per day of twenty and a half hours ; the 

 average amount of cane per day was 1,216 tons ; average 

 extraction of juice was 80'43 per cent, of the total weight of 

 cane. They have under cultivation for next year about 7,500 

 acres of cane, and expect a yield of about 20,000 tons. 



A French com[iany under the name of ' Compagnic des 

 Sucreries de Porto Kico,' with headquarters in Paris, has 

 been incoqiorated with a capital of about £180,000. They 

 have bought five plantations in this district, in all about 

 2,500 acres, and have built up a central factory which they 

 call 'Cential Fortuna.' The factory is situated about 5 miles 

 from Ponce. The capacity of the mills is about 600 tons of 

 cane per twenty-four hours. The novelty about this factory is 

 that they are putting up a new system of diffusion of bagasse, 

 which, it is asserted, will increase the extraction from canes 

 fully 2 per cent. This is the first time that this system of 

 diffusion has been undertaken on a large scale, the inventor 

 himself, a French chemist by name H. Manoury, being the 

 general director of the central factory and of the Compagnie 

 des Sucreries de Porto Itico in this city. The first crop 

 under this new .system will be taken off next year. 



Cuba. 

 The Demerara Aiynsij of June 10 contains an 

 interesting account of a visit paid to Cuba by 

 ]\Ir. John Wilson, of plantation Uitvlugt, from which 

 the following brief extracts are taken : — 



The L^nited Fruit Co.'s estate, Banes, makes a crop of 

 25,000 tons. The factory was built five years ago at a cost 

 of !?800,000, the total outlay on the estate being 64,000,000. 

 The land under cultivation consisted of 14,000 acres in cane, 

 and 4,000 acres in bananas. Tliis estate has 50,000 acres 

 of land, all good cane land. 



The canes grown are mostly what are known as the 

 'Crystallina' cane ; a small nursery of seedling canes has been 

 established ; B. 208 seemed the most promising in the 

 nursery. The cane rows on this estate are planted 6 feet 

 by 6 feet and give good results. Canes ratoon in a remark- 

 able manner, the shoots hardly ever failing to spring after 

 cutting. 



The soil in Cuba is so rich that little or no cultivating 

 is required to grow canes to make from 2 to 3 tons of sugar 

 per acre, but an attempt is being made to cultivate more 

 highly and raise the returns. Motors to work cultivators are 

 being introduced, and re-planting is to be gone in for on 

 a more systematic scale. Some fields on Isabel estate were 

 pointed out as having been in cane for fifty years without 

 re-planting or cultivating in any way beyond cleaning. No 

 artificial manure is apjilied in the east end of the island, but 

 on the older estates in the Cienfuegos district some artificial 

 manure is being applied 



Cane farming is largely carried on, and canes are 

 purchased at a fixed rate per ton. The land generally 

 belongs to the estate and is given out to contractors in plots 

 of 50 acres and upwards, who grow and cut the canes and 

 deliver to the factory. Day labour is dear and costs f POO 

 per day for an able-bodied man 



Sugar in Cuba can be produced on all well-equipped 

 estates at lie. per lb. 



For Demerara to keep pace with Cuba everything 

 possible must be done in labour-saving appliances, such as 

 the introduction of mechanical cane transporters and cane 

 hoists. The vertical cane hoist in use in Cuba looks to me 

 feasible for adoption in Demerara. 



